July 22, 2009

Ozzie Guillen on Bobby Jenks (UPDATE #2)

“It’s a shame how short a memory people have. A real shame. I grew up in this city, and when you blow one game, not two, just one, obviously that broke their heart. There’s nobody in this room that feels worse than him. All of a sudden people treat him like a piece of garbage and the way they treat him is not fair. It’s not fair. This guy since we got him has been great. He will continue to be great. He’s a human being, he had a bad night. I know he will turn the corner and continue to have success. But that hurt and made me really upset and (ticked off) when a kid has a bad night and we treat him like that. That’s really a shame. It’s sad. Because all of a sudden what do you think is going to go through his mind. If this kid blows 20 saves in a season I don’t blame you guys, not the media, but people out there acting the way they are. That’s pretty, I want to say, pretty embarrassing. Wow, what did this kid do to this town to make people treat him like that? He’s my closer and if people don’t want him to be my closer, don’t come to the (gosh darn) game.”

“The velocity is still there. His breaking ball is not a strike. When you see Bobby walk and hit a couple guys in the same inning, he’s not right. If they get hits, that’s part of the game. Besides that, how about giving Tampa Bay a little bit of credit when they have good at bats against him? Bobby will turn around. He’s not going to sit in his house and cry about it. He’s a grown man, he’s blown saves before. He will blow a save again.”